History of SCC

St. Vincent de Paul Parish has been blessed with Small Christian Communities for many years.  The original core team was trained fall of 1992 and the original communities began during Lent 1993.  These communities are a vital part of the spiritual growth and enrichment of the parish.

During Lent 1993, the parish sponsored the Emmaus Journey, an effort to begin Small Christian Communities at St. Vincent's.  The invitation to community was blessed with tremendous success.  Over 400 parishioners committed to SCC's, forming over 40 new communities in the parish.  Through the grace of God, these SCC's remain active and continue to flourish.  In recent years, St. Vincent's numbers of communities have varied from 49 - 52 at any given time.

In 1999, a study was done of Small Christian Communities in the Catholic Church in the United States funded by the Lilly Foundation and directed by Bernard Lee, S.M., Loyola Institute for Ministry and Dr. William V. D'Antonio, The Catholic University of America.  The study reported the following statistics:

There are six types of SCCs in the U.S. Catholic Church

  1. General Communities

  2. Hispanic/Latino Communities

  3. Eucharistic-Centered Communities

  4. Call to Action Small Communities

  5. Charismatic Prayer Groups

  6. College Campus Communities

1,000,000 Catholics belong to one of these small groups or SCCs

Current regular Mass attendance (once/weekly) among U. S. Catholics is about 42%
    Among General Small Communities it is 91%
    Among Hispanic/Latino Communities it is 79%

The "average" Small Christian Community consists of 8 women, 5 men, and 4 children

Missing Pic Home  Fr. John's Letter  How To Join  Why Join

St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church
1502 East Wallen Road
Fort Wayne, IN  46825
(260) 489-3537